Electrical contact

ABSTRACT

A contact is disclosed for electrically connecting conductors to printed circuit boards or the like. More specifically the contact has provision for staking connection to a circuit board and an upstanding terminal for mating engagement with a terminated conductor.

United States Patent William Vito Panza Harrisburg, Pa. 844,020

July 23, 1969 Aug. 24, 1971 AMP Incorporated lhrrkburg, Pa.

Inventor App]. No. Filed Patented Assignee ELECTRICAL CONTACT 3 Claims,5 Drawing figs.

US. Cl 339/11 n, 3391220 R H0lr 9/14 Int. CL.

Field of Search 220, 256 C, 258 F, 259 F, 262 F, 265 F, 266 F, 270 F;24/227 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 753,976 3/1904 Goss24/227 2,301,288 11/1942 Knaufet al. 339/220 2,314,855 3/1943 Del Camp339/220 3,152,853 10/1964 Scott 339/220 Primary ExaminerStephen .l.Novosad Assistant Examiner-Robert A. Hafer AnorneysCurtis, Morris andSafford, Marshall M.

Holcombe, William Hintze, William J. Keating, Frederick W. Raring, JohnR. Hopkins, Adrian J. La Rue and Jay L. Seitchik ABSTRACT: A contact isdisclosed for electrically connecting conductors to printed circuitboards or the like. More specifically the contact has provision forstaking connection to a circuit board and an upstanding tenninal formating engagement with a terminated conductor.

PATENTED AUB24 IHYI ELECTRICAL CONTACT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONl-Ieretofore electrical connections of wire conductors to printedcircuit boards and the like have been made by riveting receptacles inplace on the circuit board and mating therewith a conductor terminatedwith a post or pin. Such connections are expensive in that thereceptacle, comprising one or more parts, must be mated with the rivetand then the assembly placed in position for the riveting operation. Theuse of different machinery and its operators for each operation, inaddition to the quantity of stock material used, entails high productioncosts which are objectionable. Moreover, such connections tend to becomefaulty in that the rivet will sometimes work loose and rotate in thecircuit board thereby causing a faulty electrical connection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an electrical contactfor facilitating the connection of wire conductors to a printed circuitboard or the like.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a simple andinexpensive contact for facilitating electrical connection between aconductor and a printed circuit board.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a one-piece contactwhich can be stored and fed in strip form and staked to a circuit boardin a one-stroke operation.

It is another object of the invention to provide a contact that, whenstaked to a circuit board, will not twist or rotate and lose electricalconnection.

Other objects and attainments of the present invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the followingdetailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings inwhich there are shown and described illustrative embodiments of theinvention; it is to be understood, however, that these embodiments arenot intended to be exhaustive nor limiting of the invention, but aregiven for illustration in order that others skilled in the art may fullyunderstand the invention and principles thereof and the manner ofapplying it in practical use so that they may modify it in variousforms, each as may be best suited to the conditions of a particular use.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a contact embodyingthe teachings of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the contact shown in FIG. 1, said contactbeing mounted on a printed circuit board or the like;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the contact shown in FIG. 1, saidcontact being mounted on a printed circuit board or the like; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 2prior to the tab-bending operation.

The contact of the present invention, indicated generally at 10, isshown in FIG. 1. A series of such contacts are formed in strip form fromsheet metal strip. The contact comprises a generally rectangular baseportion 12 having ears l4 thereon which are the excess remaining fromthe slugs (not shown) which join adjacent contacts in strip form.Integral with and extending from one side of base 12 is a terminal post16 adapted to receive thereon a terminated wire conductor.

Cut out of and depending from base 12 are tabs 18 (FIGS. 1 and 5) forsecuring the contact to a printed circuit board or the like 20 (FIGS. 2,3, 4, and 5). Each circuit board 20 may have a printed circuit 22 on therearward face thereof. Each tab 18 is comprised of a body 24 and,integral with and depending therefrom, a tine 26. The body 24 is oftrapezoidal shape having a long parallel side 28, one converging side30a which is a portion of tab side 30, a second converging side 32, anda shorter parallel side, a portion of which is shown at 34 and theremainder being the imaginary extension of side 34 extending toconverging side 30a, which imaginary extension divides the body 24 andtine 26. The tine is of trapezoidal shape with the aforesaid imaginaryextension of side 34 denoting the longer parallel side. The remainingthree sides are one converging side 30b of tine 26 which is a portion ofside 30, the second converging side 36, and the shorter parallel side28.

The shape of the two tabs 18 is such that no stock material is wastedwhen forming the tabs from body portion 12. Prior to bending tabs 18 outof the plane of body 12, tines 26 are in overlapping or side-by-sideposition with sides 36 adjacent each other and sides 28 adjacent sides34, it being obvious that sides 28 and 34 are of equal length.

In use, the contact, as shown in FIG. 1, is positioned on board 20(FIG. 1) with tabs 18 extending through a generally rectangular hole 38cut in the board FIGS. 3, 4, and 5). The tines 26 of tabs 18 arethereafter bent back against the rearward side of board 20, as shown inFIG. 3, and in the case of a printed circuit board, making contact withthe circuit 22 thereon. As seen in FIG. 5 the body 24 of the tabs 18will prohibit twisting of the contact 10 in the board 20 and the tines26 mechanically secure the contact thereon.

It can be seen that the contact of the present invention is very simpleto attach to circuit boards. By forming the contact in' strip form andin one piece the contact is relatively inexpensive to produce and yet issturdy and rigid in both construction and use.

Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art andvarious apparently different modifications and embodiments may be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention. It is anticipatedthat one embodiment of the contact of the present invention could have asecond terminal extending from the base portion or that the terminalcould be a receptacle. The matter set forth in the foregoing descriptionand accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustration only. Theactual scope of the invention is intended to be defined in the followingclaims when viewed in their proper perspective against the prior art.

The invention is claimed in accordance with the following:

1. An electrical contact for securing a connector to a circuit board andhaving means thereon for mating contact with a connector, said contactcomprising a generally flat base member lying in a first plane, saidbase member having means integral therewith and extending therefrom inplural planes substantially normal to said first plane for securing saidcontact to a circuit board, said plural planes comprise second and thirdplanes and wherein said securing means comprise first and second tabmeans carried, respectively, in said second and third planes, andterminal means integral with and extending from said base member,wherein each said tab means are formed from adjoining central portionsof the base member and comprise a body of trapezoidal shape and a tineof trapezoidal shape integral with and extending from one side of saidbody, each said trapezoidal shape having two parallel and two convergingsides.

2. An electrical contact as set forth in claim I wherein the longerparallel side of said body coincides with the juncture of said stakingmeans and said base member, said tine extending from the shorterparallel side of said body with the longer parallel side of said tinecoinciding with a portion of said shorter parallel side of said body,the remaining portion of said shorter parallel side of said body andsaid shorter parallel side of said tine being of equal length.

3. An electrical contact as set forth in claim 2 wherein one convergingside of said tine is an extension of one converging side of said body,and the remaining converging side of said tine is normal to saidparallel sides of said tine.

1. An electrical contact for securing a connector to a circuit board andhaving means thereon for mating contact with a connector, said contactcomprising a generally flat base member lying in a first plane, saidbase member having means integral therewith and extending therefrom inplural planes substantially normal to said first plane for securing saidcontact to a circuit board, said plural planes comprise second and thirdplanes and wherein said securing means comprise first and second tabmeans carried, respectively, in said second and third planes, andterminal means integral with and extending from said base member,wherein each said tab means are formed from adjoining central portionsof the base member and comprise a body of trapezoidal shape and a tineof trapezoidal shape integral with and extending from one side of saidbody, each said trapezoidal shape having two parallel and two convergingsides.
 2. An electrical contact as set forth in claim 1 wherein thelonger parallel side of said body coincides with the juncture of saidstaking means and said base member, Said tine extending from the shorterparallel side of said body with the longer parallel side of said tinecoinciding with a portion of said shorter parallel side of said body,the remaining portion of said shorter parallel side of said body andsaid shorter parallel side of said tine being of equal length.
 3. Anelectrical contact as set forth in claim 2 wherein one converging sideof said tine is an extension of one converging side of said body, andthe remaining converging side of said tine is normal to said parallelsides of said tine.